The Press FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1968. Uncommitted President

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31831, 8 November 1968, Page 10

The Press FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1968. Uncommitted President

The worst did not happen. Mr Wallace did not acquire the power to name the next President of the United States. By the narrowest of margins the popular vote produced a majority for Mr Nixon in the Electoral College and the country has been spared the spectacle of Mr Wallace, the extremist, advising his Electors how to vote. Mr Nixon’s victory is no triumph; and so much the worse for the United States. So many things must be done boldly and with popular support Instead, Mr Nixon has a bare mandate and a hostile Congress. Nevertheless, Mr Wallace has surely seen the fulfilment of his first object: a liberal Democrat has been kept out of office. Mr Nixon may well read the Wallace vote as a sign that he should err on the side of conservatism in his domestic policies. The world will watch with interest to see how Mr Nixon reconciles his views on law and order and budget-cutting with the problems of the cities, the protests of the poor, and racial conflict The answer cannot be read in his record, for he has held no political office since 1960. In particular, it is difficult to foresee how moods, events, and policies within the United States will influence the new President in his conduct of the nation’s affairs abroad.

Like most other countries, New Zealand is interested in how Mr Nixon will shape American foreign policy. Will the United States now retire from the role that has so often been urged on it by other countries of the free world direct involvement in conflicts and disputes that only indirectly threaten the security of America? Will Mr Nixon steer the United States into a new era of isolation and abdicate responsibility for world order except in so far as it is necessary to prevent a nuclear war that would endanger the United States itself? Will Mr Nixon turn his attention and his country’s foreign policy mainly to Europe? After the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia he spoke of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as “the world’s strongest bulwark of “ peace ”. Or will he regard the United States as a Pacific Power? A year ago he was saying that America’s interests and ideals “ propel us westward “ across the Pacific President de Gaulle’s effusive welcome to Mr Nixon suggests that, at least on de Gaulle’s side, relations with France may grow warmer. Mr Nixon lacks the sensibilities that have helped Mr Humphrey to. get along reasonably well with the Communist countries. Mr Nixon might imperil the nuclear nonproliferation treaty by further delaying its ratification. During the campaign Mr Nixon showed that he has changed in many ways since 1960; he has more poise, more flexibility. But the campaign threw little light on Mr Nixon’s ideas on foreign policy. He did not intend it to do so; the United States and the world must wait and see. There are signs that Mr Nixon would like to be an activist President, applying his energy and considerable abilities to reshaping America’s relationships with the rest of the world and using his country’s influence, and possibly its wealth, to better the world. Mr Nixon, indeed, can have no real expectation of reducing his country’s involvement in world affairs. Even if, as seems likely, the North Vietnamese hasten to reach a settlement with the United States while President Johnson remains in office, Mr Nixon will inherit such an array of major international problems that his country could hardly withdraw behind a nuclear screen even if the new President felt this to be a practicable and desirable policy.